Every day, Amazon gets a little more competitive. That means we sellers are no longer able to skate by with sub-par listings and sub-zero effort. The quality of your listings can determine your success on Amazon and no one knows that better than Mac Schlesinger, Founder and CEO of Best Seller Listers. In this episode of Entrepreneur Adventure, Mac walks us through his Amazon journey and tips for creating a top-notch listing. Stay tuned.
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Mac’s Story
Sometimes, our failures lead us to our greatest successes. That’s certainly true for Mac. Beginning in private label, Mac wasn’t gaining the traction he needed to make a living. So he took a job at an Amazon company and discovered he had a knack for creativity. After encouragement from friends and colleagues, Mac took the plunge and started his own Amazon agency focused on improving listings.
Pieces of The Puzzle
Maybe brands like Nike and Adidas don’t need stellar listings to sell. You see the name, you trust the brand. But if you’ve got a private label product or a smaller brand to sell, great listings make you credible. And, as Mac mentions, it’s not one thing in particular but several pieces that come together and make a big picture success. For example, can you feel the product from your photos? Can a 10-year-old understand what your product does? Are you too focused on the algorithm and not the human behind the home screen? Optimize each piece and you’ll complete a perfect puzzle.
Photos
Because most will skip or skim your text, photos are pivotal. Best Seller Listers offers several image packages. As an example, their top package includes 7 images: 1 main image and 6 graphic images (3 infographics and 3 lifestyle). So how do you pick which images to feature? Well, it depends on the product. Some products sell better with infographics, others need lifestyle photos to paint the picture. In general, it’s important to show the product at every angle, zoom in to highlight features, and make the product look fun!
Titles
When it comes to the title, don’t just stuff it full of keywords. Remember, there’s a human, not an algorithm, staring at your title and deciding whether or not to click. So use keywords but also use sales copy. And include a benefit in the title so shoppers know instantly what they’re looking at.
Bullets
Despite Amazon cracking down on capitalized words, Mac still uses this strategy. Capitalizing the first word of your bullets eases the reader through each line. Also remember to lead with benefits and back it up with features. Unless your product falls under electronics or another category where features count, most consumers aren’t looking for sheets made from 100% cotton; they’re looking for sheets that solve a problem.
Descriptions
Essentially you’ve got two options: HTML and EBC. HTML makes text easy to read. align your text to the left, create lists, bold your title, and add a space between paragraphs for a clean look. Your second option is EBC or A+ content. In short, EBC turns your description into a website homepage. This option gives you more space to elaborate on text, images, and graphics.
& More
Let’s talk about the backend. Mac recommends using those 249 characters in the back to include keywords that relate to your product but aren’t exactly your product. That way if someone’s searching for plastic utensils and you sell plastic forks, include knives and spoons as well, since shoppers usually purchase this product in a set rather than individually. Also add Spanish keywords for the many U.S. shoppers whose first language is Spanish.
When it comes to marketing, Mac focuses on giveaways. Giveaways help listings get to that first page quicker and encourage buyers to leave those precious reviews.
Overall
If you want more tips and tricks for listing success, check out Best Seller Listers and add Mac to your WhatsApp contacts. Not only does his agency provide stellar listing services, but Mac stays on the pulse of all things Amazon and sends you newsletters as well as updates via WhatsApp.
Hopefully this inspired you to take control of your listings and control of your Amazon success.
As always, happy selling everybody.
Resources From This Episode
Outline Of This Episode
[00:49] Todd’s introduction to this episode
[01:39] Mac’s story
[09:10] The importance of great listings
[14:27] Pieces of the listing puzzle
[16:58] Getting the most from your photos
[20:28] Tackling titles
[24:47] All about bullets
[29:26] Building beautiful descriptions
[35:39] The backend
[45:37] Mac’s outro
Transcript
MAC (00:00):
And back then it was, it was semi. I mean, it was like on the borderline where it wasn’t so important, but it started getting important because the more competitive Amazon, yeah. The more important it was to really have like a beautiful listings to stand out and be the competition before then it wasn’t so important. You know, you just slept on a product on Amazon and the next day it started selling like, you know, but these days it’s almost impossible. You really have to, I mean it’s really a must. You cant get away with just a standard basic listing,
Announcer (00:32):
Welcome fellow entrepreneurs to the entrepreneur adventure podcast, where we talk about Amazon wholesale and how you can use it to build an e-commerce empire, a side hustle or anything in between. And now your host, Todd Welch.
TODD (00:49):
All right. So I’ve got Mac Schlesinger with me today. He is the CEO of best seller listers. He’s done private label in the past, and now he’s built an Amazon agency and I’m bringing him on the show today. We’re going to talk a little bit about optimizing listings and just ways that we can get more traffic to listings on Amazon. So Mac, I really appreciate you joining us today. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your background, how you got into this crazy world of Amazon?
MAC (01:22):
Yeah, I mean, Hey, Todd, first of all, it’s a pleasure having me. Thanks for inviting me special, amazing podcast. I’m looking forward for a great time. Absolutely. Thanks for joining me. So you want to hear about my story about my.
TODD (01:35):
Yeah. How’d you get into selling on Amazon?
MAC (01:39):
I mean, it’s a whole it’s a long story.
MAC (01:41):
I don’t think we will have time for the whole this. I mean, I did a podcast with someone like specifically about my story. Maybe we’ll add a link to that, but long story short it’s basically I started selling on Amazon around eight to nine years ago, probably like 2012, that range, I think. Yeah, so I mean, the way I got into it, it was also a whole story. I started like you know, I went to go to the mall, buy products with that. I didn’t know what I’m doing, whatever. And so after all those hussle and bussle I got into, I started with a private label. I think private label was back then, like a pretty new one, like a thing. So I got into it, I bought my stuff. I’m trying to like everyone else and build the brand, created the brand, the name, the logo, everything.
MAC (02:30):
And I started selling, you know like everyone else. So as time went on, I realized, you know, that’s a, I mean, it’s working well, but it’s not really covering the bills. But by then I was, I was already married, had a few kids and I had a big overheads for sure. So at that time I took on a job, which is, I mean, actually a friend found out about what I’m doing on Amazon. He knew about a different friend that had like a big Amazon company and was looking to hire like Amazon managers. So I was hired for that job. And my responsibility was basically building up their sales and building up their listings, making sure all of the listings are optimized. Top-Notch everything like the content, the images and stuff like that. And back then, I didn’t even really know what my specialty is.
MAC (03:15):
I was just like an Amazon seller, but as time went on, the more work I put in, I realized that my specialty and my talent is in the creative part, which is creating the content, the keywords and the writing, the picture, the graphics and all of that stuff. So I was working there for a year and meanwhile, you know I had a coworker that knew about it and he shared the word with other people. Basically the word went out that I know how to create listings. So it was interesting when I was working other jobs and people came to me privately asking me to do their listings. And I did it on the side, whatever long story short, I saw that this is my specialty. This is what I like doing. This is what I’m good at. And people pushed me to start my own agency doing it.
MAC (04:01):
But back then, I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself, like owning an agency or talking to people. I was very quiet. And so I was trying to hide in the side. But as a more, as I did, as more people pushed me, I did it. I stopped, I quit my job. And I started the agency and I started promoting myself and the business. And, you know, the word got out. Fast forward to now I mean, we have like a big agency. It’s like 12 people,Monday to Fridays. And the graphic designers, photographers and project managers. And I, and we are dealing and collected. We are servicing like a hundreds of Amazon sellers every day from all over the world, basically.
TODD (04:46):
Nice, nice. That’s awesome. I, I love to hear people’s backstory because it’s, they’re always so varied in kind of all over and, and what I really like about your story is that, you know, you went into private label and what some people might see as a failure since you’re not still doing that in reality, every failure is just a learning experience, right? Because we took the skills that you learned and you actually took a job working for someone else, which I think is a great way for people out there who are maybe trying to get into this, but things aren’t going the way they want them to go. If you take a job doing this kind of stuff, you can learn a lot doing that kind of stuff and help build your skills. And you built it into a consulting agency because other people seen your skills.
TODD (05:44):
And, and like you said, even though you, you didn’t have you weren’t completely you know, confident in your abilities, other people seeing you as the expert. And I think that’s important for people know too, because I feel that way. A lot of times I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing half the time, but other people look at me as the experts. And I think that’s a really important thing that we’re all just kind of learning as we go along. So I really like your backstory and how you’ve turned into a pretty much a success story in a successful consulting agency.
MAC (06:19):
I, no, because it’s very interesting sometimes in life in general, you know, sometimes you feel like you’re going through something, you feel like zero below. For example, I felt like I had my business. I was working for myself, no boss, nothing. And then all of a sudden I have to go back work for someone. At that time it was probably like a painful moment, but that really helped me to get where I am now, without that I probably wont never had the agency and all those trust and confidence that I got while working over there.
TODD (06:54):
Yup. Yeah. And I think it’s important to know too that where you are today, isn’t necessarily where you’re going to be in the future. But as long as you’re learning and keep moving forward, you know, you never know where things are, are going to take you . You can just keep growing and getting better at things for sure. So now you’ve got a, a nice size agency. Things are going well. I’m sure things are crazy for you guys this time of year and Q4, or are you guys kinda calmer during Q4 because everybody was doing everything before.
MAC (07:30):
So that’s also the problem because I mean, the last few months was very busy because people prepare stuff for Q4. So we have to catch up with everything. I mean, we’re now a little bit behind, of course, you know, we wouldn’t expect it that traffic, but now it’s supposed to be calmer, but we always dealing with the late people that are finding themselves at the last minute, like last minute people, and now they want everything yesterday, you know, like, it’s Q4 this season here and let’s get it done, you know? Yeah, yeah. So it was busy, you know?
TODD (08:07):
Yeah. That’s something you learn with experience that you can’t wait till the last minute in e-commerce, if you’re in Q4 and you’re just trying to figure out what you’re going to do then youre too late, for sure.
TODD (08:20):
So you guys specialize in or what’s your main focus in the agency?
MAC (08:28):
So main focus is basically setting up creating all the parts of their listings, which is the writing, the keywords, the photos, the graphics, that EBC, whatever A-plus descriptions, the whole page. So setting up the whole page, that’s our main specialty. And then we have different services like site services, which helps build up the listings, helps build up the seller accounts that kind of stuff. But the main focus, the main specialties is the creative part, which is creating the all those content, pictures, and descriptions and stuff like that.
TODD (09:03):
Have you seen that stuff kind of change over the years then doing it? Is it more important, less important?
MAC (09:10):
Yeah, so it was funny because I started this around four years ago and back then it was, it was semi. I mean, it was like on the borderline where it wasn’t so important, but it started getting important because the more competitive Amazon, yeah. The more important it was to, to really have like beautiful listings to stand out and be the competition before then it wasn’t so, so important. You know, you just slept on a product and Amazon, and the next day it started selling like, you know, but these days it’s almost impossible. You really have to, I mean it’s really a must. You can’t get away with just a standard basic listing. Really need to optimize it and make sure to have the top notch the writing copy and the keywords and the pictures to stand up them as main photo, especially in all those infographics and lifestyles and EBC and video. And these days it’s either win a win or bust. There’s no other option.
TODD (10:06):
Yeah It’s interesting being in the wholesale world and selling lots of other people’s products just how bad some listings are out there. And surprisingly, some of them are doing pretty well, but it really makes you think about how much better they could be doing. And it frustrates me because I’m trying to help these companies and stuff like that. And a lot of them just don’t see the benefit in fixing up their listings and stuff like that.
MAC (10:39):
when it comes to wholesale, it’s still not so necessary to have like a really beautiful picture because some brands, you know, the brand name is selling everything. So as long as they have the brand name and the title and the listing and on the picture they see right away, the packaging, you know,. It’s selling because people actually looking for it. So it’s not so necessary to have like a top-notch listing. It’s mainly necessarily for the clients that we deal with. It’s like just a random private label brands. It’s basically a brand that people are not aware of. So that is very important,
TODD (11:18):
Yeah, that makes sense. For sure. It just makes you really wonder how good those products could be if they actually fixed up their listings. And what’s really frustrating is when I run across the brand where Amazon is selling a lot of their products and 95% of the time, those are like the worst listings on Amazon.
MAC (11:42):
Of course, it’s very interesting. And I’m trying to now cause I have a client that, that he he’s selling ready for 10 to 12 years. So he he’s still used his mind is still in the back of the day is which, listting is not so important. It’s more important to run advertising and stuff like that. I have to work really hard to convince him that your listings look really bad and your competitors. I’m sure that when you compare us, like, look on us. And I said, why should the customer choose us? Versus the competitors went well on Mondays, how much nicer? So in the beginning, as a fight with him, he said, no, it’s fine. That’s not a, the case in Amazon, Amazon you know, it’s not important, whatever. So I told him, you know what, let’s give it a try with three products.
MAC (12:24):
It’s a small investment. Let me try it out and see what happens if it doesn’t work, then we move on. And , we took three of his products and we fixed it up. We fixed up all the countdown, all the keywords of the images, maybe beautiful images. We added the EBC description. And a week after uploading the listing, he saw such an increase. So such a difference that he was like, wow, I’m so sorry for arguing with. It’s only like, I believe in you, you’re the expert now, whatever you say I’m doing. So you started to optimize all of his listings. They need this crushing now.
TODD (12:57):
Yeah, for sure. That’s exactly actually the same thing I tried to do. When I open up a new account, you know, I try to take one or two of their listings, make them really good and show them what can be done. And I try to work that into an exclusive agreement. So it’s really interesting to watch. And sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t, for some reason, a lot of people just don’t care. You know we’re in Amazon. So we see Amazon has everything, but for a lot of companies that are outside of Amazon, their biggest platforms are still retail stores. Because even though Amazon has 50% of e-commerce, that’s still only like four or 5% of all retail. So we always got to kind of keep that in mind since we’re in this, and this is what we see all the time, other people not so much. So what let’s dive into a listing and just kind of go over what kind of things you do when a new customer comes to you, and that will give people an idea. Maybe they want to get your services. Maybe there’s a company watching this that wants to improve their listings or the people who are in the wholesale world, and they want to help others or recommend to other people and be their expert. What kind of things do you see as having the biggest impact when you’re improving a listing?
MAC (14:27):
It’s a combination of everything because it’s like a puzzle, you know, it’s like a Amazon list. If the whole puzzle is completed and there’s one or two missing pieces, and you know, it’s also not going to work, but obviously there’s always like the most important parts of the puzzle. So, so obviously the photos is very important, especially these days when a lot of people I don’t know how it’s cool that people don’t like to read. You know, they don’t have patience to read through titles and bullet points and scripts and stuff like that. They make the decision of the images. So when we do it, we make sure, I mean, obviously the main image, we don’t have a lot of options because Amazon’s very limited and restricted to only white background. But on the other images, you can put the whole listing on all those images.
MAC (15:10):
Like basically like have a combination of seven images and really point out all the features, zoom, then all the infographics and lifestyle to show how people are using it. Basically the customer should feel lucky he’s holding the product, and he’s in a story he’s holding the product and is feeling it. So that’s very important. And then it’s also important for the text, because some people are more like texts driven. So they usually read instead of looking at pictures. So that’s why it’s always important the title and the bullet points, especially to be very eye-catching and make sure not to be too basic or too driven for the, for the algorithm. Like all those keywords and professional words. It has to be more, user-friendly more like talking to all kinds of people. So someone wants said that what does this saying again is basically if a 10 year old can’t understand your product, like from the listing, then it’s not it, the problem is people start to be very professional, like putting all those high vocabulary words, but the problem is it doesn’t work.
MAC (16:17):
It’s not like a, you know, after your customers are like random people, people that barely know English or people, they know English, but they’re not, they’re not like a high vocabulary. So it’s very important to be like, very user-friendly and I don’t know what the name is like, you know what I mean?
TODD (16:36):
Yeah. I think the, the average newspaper writes for like a seventh or eighth grade level. So that’s probably a similar level. We should write on amazon. So with the photos you’re doing a lot of lifestyles and infographics in the photos for the secondary images.
MAC (16:58):
So was basically, Well, usually try to make a combination. So let’s say, I mean, we have different packages. For example, the top package includes seven images. One is the main image. Then the six graphic images, three of them are infographics, and three of them are lifestyle. I mean, obviously depends on the product. Some products are more important than infographics, some opposites. So usually it’s like an infographics showing the dimensions showing all the features that you point out in description or putting it on the photos so people can see right away all the main features. And then there’s a point it’s very important to have like a picture with all the zoomed in parts. I mean, it’s not necessarily for every product, but most products have like different angles, different size, different buttons, different parts. So it’s important to zoom it in. And especially if it’s a material or something like that, the zoom in, so people can see it close up right away is, and then the lifestyle, you know, it’s basically making it fun, making it look like exciting, like people, if you’re particularly, if it’s a, kid-friendly a toy and make like a happy kids are playing with it, then the parents helping the kids with it, whatever, there’s a lot of different options, different aspects you can do.
TODD (17:58):
Yeah. For sure. Now, are you guys actually working with models and stuff like that, or are you doing the trick where you take the photo on a white background at a bunch of different angles and then placing it in a, another photo digitally? Yeah.
MAC (18:13):
So in most cases we just do like A white bag on photography and then the graphic designers we have hery talented graphic designers.
MAC (18:20):
that really know how to manipulate photos, basically take that photo and find the right stock photo and put it in the hands on the table, stuff like that. So it looks really, I mean, it looks real. I mean, so most people will not realize that it’s being done with graphics. It looks like it’s been like shots with models. So we don’t really do models. Some like here and there, we have certain products it’s very hard to to put it like with graphics. So we need to hire models. There’s an agency, whatever models,
TODD (18:53):
Cool, how they can do that. And that, that kind of stuff is important that you have somebody good because when they do that kind of stuff, not well, it’s very obvious and it looks like awkward and not good. So that kind of stuff. So you need to have experienced graphic designers doing that stuff.
MAC (19:11):
Sure. And this is a very tough, because me as an agency, I’m always trying to find that like the best talent and sometimes have to go through 10 people until I find one that is somewhat good and we need to train them to be better. So it’s like, it’s very rare to find like a really professional. I mean, obviously they’re probably much more, but it’s probably more and more expensive. It’s not worth it. But in most cases it’s like in graphic design, you really have to find that pin in hay and basically to find the right talent that really know how to manipulate photos and make it look real.
TODD (19:51):
For sure. Very good. So obviously photos. Photos are very important. Like you said, most people, a lot of people don’t even read anything more than the title. And that’s just enough to get you to click on it. And then they look at the photos. So when you guys are working with the title back in the day, the thought was to basically use every character available in the title and just stuff it full of keywords. How are you guys working it today as far as building out a title?
MAC (20:28):
So, so these days it’s mainly like 200 characters. Some categories have 80 whatever, depending on the category. Well, the most cases, it’s still hundred. So usually what we try to fill out 200, 200, it’s not allowed it. Sometimes you want to describe something and then also, Oh, while you’re all at the limit, basically trying to make it as a combination of have a lack of keywords for the SEO. And then also like sales copy, because it’s also very important. Some people are very focused on the keywords and the title, but if I get that, it’s also the first thing that a customer is seeing. So a customer is, it’s not the algorithm, it’s a human being. So it’s a human. So they have to, they has to catch their eyes and their mind when they see the title. So besides on the keywords that you put just for the algorithm does too, you also have to make sure that let’s say the main features or the main benefits of your product should be in the title. So a customer can see, Oh, that’s what I’m looking for. And, you know, and then he goes in and it makes his desission.
TODD (21:30):
Yeah. I think that’s, that’s important to remember because a lot of people just think of we’re putting the keywords in there, but that’s really like your first thing that is getting someone to click, because if they don’t click over to your listing, they’re not going to see any of the extra fancy photos or anything like that. Of course that means photo plays a role in that as well. But the, the title has to be enticing to get somebody to click over.
MAC (21:57):
Yeah. And I’m thinking now, especially these days, the last few weeks, Amazon is very stick with having texts or icons on the photo. You know, back in the day, you could have added like a title or a nice graphic on the main photo to make it more appealing. But now it has to be strictly just white background. So it’s more important to have like a sales, good sales copy in the title to convince a customer to go into your listing.
TODD (22:21):
Yeah, absolutely. Back to the photos for a second, because I just thought of something and I’ve seen this and heard various people say different things about it. What are your thoughts on that main image? Like let’s say you have a bunch of different colors of the product of putting those colors, different colors off to the side, just the real small,
MAC (22:47):
Like a swatch or something that’s going
TODD (22:49):
On. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I’d recommend doing that.
MAC (22:53):
Yeah. This is very important because it will cost, for example, for myself, when I’m going on Amazon, I want to buy something and I like a certain color and I don’t see it on the main photo. I’m just fascinated by it. I’m not going to go in to see if they have more costs. So it’s very important to have it on the main image, like a few small like dots or squares, whatever it’s showing that inside is more, you know.
TODD (23:15):
Yeah. I think, I think that’s really important as well. And technically that’s against Amazon’s terms of service, but I can’t imagine that Amazon would get all that upset about it. Cause it’s really is helpful to a customer just as myself shopping on Amazon. When I see that I know like, okay, yeah, that’s the color that I’m actually looking for. So I can actually click in and look at it. Have you had anybody get in trouble for that at all?
MAC (23:41):
Well, it’s funny because since we find out that Amazon doesn’t allow text
MAC (23:46):
Or anything like that we had a few times that really wanted to have the call color watches. And then, you know, we’re trying to look, I guess it’s a problem. We’ll, we’ll, we’ll take it up. So this this feature didn’t cause any issues, it was only like a text mainly basically.
TODD (24:01):
Yeah. I have seen on Amazon lately though, a few listings where I’ll be looking to buy something and Amazon underneath the photo will actually put the different colors, like little color dots underneath it, a feature that they’re working on internally as well. Oh, I haven’t seen them. Interesting. Maybe, maybe that’ll be coming and then they’ll crack down on people who put it in the pictures say, but I think that worst case scenario, they’ll just take down the listing for a second and you’ll have to change the photo, but yeah, they’re not going to shut down your listing or anything.
TODD (24:41):
So for the bullets what are you guys recommending? There currently in Amazon?
MAC (24:47):
So the bullets is also interesting because obviously we always started each bullet point with a capital one phrase and capital. So the customer can see right away. Okay. This bullet point talks about the specific, this particular benefit, the future. But I heard lately also Amazon is like making issue of having capital words. I mean, I didn’t hear it of them closing listings of course of that, but I think some sellers receive like a warning, a email, I heard the same. It’s weird because it’s so, so helpful. Having the item, even though the item, the emoji is also helpful. And some people think like it looks silly, but it’s not. I mean, first of all, the five bullet points, because it’s so squeezed. It’s like, there’s no space in between the bullet point.
MAC (25:31):
So it looks like one whole paragraph. So when you add the emoji, it makes, it makes, I mean, it doesn’t have to be like a colorful emoji. It can be like a star or a check Mark, something like that, basically to split them out, just to show them it’s clearly five bullet points. And also I’m not sure where this is going about the capital about this. Cause it’s going to be a bit a big hit if they take away the capital.
TODD (25:52):
Yeah, that’s pretty popular. Most listings that look nice have that. I do that with all my listings. So it’ll be interesting. I mean, personally, I think it’s a benefit to the customer. Amazon may see it differently and they’ve got their internal data to suggest whatever is best, but we’ll see right now, I think the bullet points are not featured very well on mobile anyways, that the bullet points are actually below. It doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t understand that, you know, on desktop they’re like prominent and then the description is 12 pages down and you’ll never see that, but a and mobile, they put it above the bullet. It’s really weird, but that’s Amazon. They they’ve got internal data on what sells the best. And someone must told them that I was
MAC (26:44):
Better. I mean, maybe I’m thinking it’s possible that they’re going to cut the limit of per bullet point as possible that they want it to be like one short line to the, I don’t know how much it’s weird.
TODD (26:54):
How doing yeah. That I think would make sense that to shorten the character count there because some people go crazy. They just book.
MAC (27:05):
510 characters per bullet point. It looks like a whole book, a journal.
TODD (27:10):
How many characters are you guys usually using?
MAC (27:13):
So it comes out to an average of flat around between 200 and 300 characters per bullet point in between I think two, three lines per bullet point on the desktop. Okay. And now in the past, I’ve read and heard that, that lead with benefits and back it up with features. Is that something that you guys do as well?
MAC (27:36):
So that’s, that’s also, we changed a few months ago. I mean, a few years ago we obviously started with just putting like the feature and then describing the feature, but then we switched it. We would ask that the people are more driven to benefits versus a feature, for example instead of writing a hundred percent cotton that big, and then writing the benefits of cotton, you start out with writing the benefit of cotton, which is, I dunno, sweats free or you know, stop sweating at night. Something like that. It’s because it’s a hundred percent cotton, you know, investigating from being a small. So then the main highlights would be like the benefits so people could see, Oh, wow. That’s what I’m looking for. That that’s, that’s what I needed. Yeah.
TODD (28:16):
The problem that you’re solving, solving the problem, people don’t buy anything because it’s a hundred percent cotton I at because that a hundred percent cotton is going to solve some problem they have or is something that they think they need for whatever reasons. So, yeah, I think that’s really important and less, you know, there may be some areas where features are more important. Like if it’s some kind of Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know, thinking of something right now, but something that’s very like feature oriented, maybe a measuring tape or something.
MAC (28:55):
It’s also usually electronics they have like all the specifications, like all this, for example cameras.
TODD (29:02):
So that’s yeah. And those kinds of things like a camera that’s features are the benefits a lot of times. So yeah, absolutely. Like, all right. Very good. What else do we got in the listing that you guys work out? And we hit that, the images, title, and bullets descriptive of course you guys put much work into it, a description.
MAC (29:26):
Yeah. So we actually do obviously there’s two options. One is the HTML option with just the text and then there’s the EBC. So for the HTML is also very important. Some people think of it as just a description of it. So they’re just put lucky the one phrase or something, but whenever we do it, it also has like a limit of 2000 characters. So we usually try to fill up the whole thing. And it’s not like a one big thing.
MAC (29:50):
We try to make it like split it, split it up between a few phrases, a few paragraphs and starting with like a question, a pinpoint question, it’s really getting the customerinto the story of the product and then explaining each feature. And then we add like a list of all old features, like bullet points, small, short bullet points, so people can see right away all the features. So we usually try to spread it out. So it looks like a whole big description. It’s easy to read and it explains the product really well. It has all of the Codes, all of the HTML code in the backhand to split it up, to make it look nice. Yeah.
TODD (30:28):
That’s another thing that technically is against Amazon service, but it’s one of those things that I think as long as you do it, right, it makes it more beneficial for the customer and problem with want to be an issue. It’s always the people that go crazy. And that’s why Amazon clamps down on stuff. But for the most part, I think it’s beneficial. I try to stick to just like line breaks and bold and maybe lists. Do you guys do anything more than that?
MAC (30:59):
No, it’s basically line breaks, which is like a it was also the Amazon listing on, especially in desktop, it’s so wide, it was very hard to read from one line to the other, so we should try to break it up. So the whole description is only on the left side of the page. Okay. It’s easier to read like, like this instead of like, so we break it out. So does the breakout, and then we have like the bowl, obviously every title is in bold and then there’s like the space between, the paragraphs between each paragraph. Yeah.
TODD (31:31):
Yeah. It makes, it makes it a lot better looking. I’ve always found it interesting kind of another indication that for some reason, I think Amazon values the description more than the bullet points, which is strange. Is that in the back end when you’re editing a listing, if you do not put bullets in Amazon doesn’t care, but if you don’t put a description in, they’ll like suppress your listing. Yeah. I’ve seen that, which is strange
MAC (31:58):
Because officially they’re saying that the bullet points, it has a stronger thing for the algorithm was for the keywords. And then they’re trying to ask you to the description, which doesn’t have so much weight
TODD (32:08):
Really interesting. That’s for sure. So what else do you guys recommend that brands do aside from what we’ve already talked about?
MAC (32:17):
Yeah, so obviously the description part. So if a branch has brand registry, which everyone should have, I mean, it’s pretty easy to have this these days, which you can apply for trademark through Amazon. I think it’s IP accelerator which you can apply for it and have brand registry, which in two weeks, I think a month. Yeah. That’s very helpful. And I think every branch of it definitely invest in that as first to have brand registry. I mean, brand heresy has so much features, so much benefits. So let’s talk about the EBC. So the EBC, I mean, now it’s called the A-plus content description. It’s also very important. So it’s basically the top images, you know, I told you, we usually put in like all this infograph, the lifestyle on the EBC, the A-plus you have so much space, you have so much more real estate to really elaborate on all those images and graphics and texts and you can make it so beautiful. It looks like a, I mean, the way we do it, it looks like a whole like homepage of a website, you know, see like the products and titles and all the sounds.
TODD (33:21):
Yeah. That’s exactly how I usually describe it to people as well. And you can make it look like a website, basically. Nice. How do you guys measure and track the differences? Do you see a significant difference using the EBC, the enhanced brand content?
MAC (33:40):
No, we don’t really check it because the way we work is that we don’t really monitor or manage the listings. We basically create a content and then we send it over to the seller and just kind of takes care of the rest. So we don’t know what to follow up with them, but most of the time we hear back from the sellers that they really helped to really helped and the conversion rate and obviously the sales. So we can definitely see the benefits.
TODD (34:04):
Good. Yeah. I’ve heard from Amazon. On Amazon and they claim about a 5% boost in conversions when you add that in there. So definitely if you have brand registry, that’s important. Now you guys are doing videos as well for people. So
MAC (34:24):
Videos, we’re not into that yet. Just so you know, some people, they don’t want to spend the money yet because videos is still new. some people not, so it’s getting more into it, but video right now we work with a video companies that we collaborate together and they create a video for us, but hopefully soon, we’ll get into it and add it to the package.
TODD (34:47):
All right. Perfect. Yeah, I think that’s going to become more and more important, especially Amazon now has like the Amazon live for doing like live infomercials and stuff like that. So I think they’re trying to go that direction, more video built into the platform. All right. What else, what other kinds of things do you guys recommend people do A listing when you guys are fixing them up?
MAC (35:10):
Yeah. So for the creative part, that that’s, that’s pretty much it obviously the backend, the keywords and search terms and subject matter stuff like that, which is important, but the best part of writing the listings, I don’t know if you wanna discuss that or
TODD (35:28):
Yeah. How much, how much work do you guys put into the back end are, do you literally go through everything and fill everything that could possibly be related to the product?
MAC (35:39):
No, we don’t do everything because we saw in the numbers that it doesn’t really make a huge difference that it would be worth it. But the main thing we do is the search terms, which is the two 49 characters in the bag. And sometimes we do the sub subject matters and target areas, which I, me personally, I didn’t see like a real big difference. I mean, maybe people do see, but for my clients, I didn’t see a big difference. And so we tried to focus more on the self in the, on the search TERMS, which is basically, you know, after grading the whole listing, all the title, a bullet point of the description, then we take all of the leftover keywords and we try to brainstorm keywords that can’t relate to the product, but it’s not the product itself. And we put it in the backhand. So in case the customer is searching for it, they should find it. For example I usually use this example. First we get a listing for someone someone’s selling like forks, you know, like plastic forks. We obviously made sure to put like the spoons and knives in the backhand, because people are searching with that. They usually search them for the whole package. So it’s always important to put all types of cutlery or like cups and plates in there. So it’s one family.
TODD (36:49):
Yeah. Things that could be related to your product.
MAC (36:52):
And also obviously there’s our Spanish keywords. Like, of course there’s a lot of people that search Spanish words and misspellings, those are very important because especially these days when people are buying on their phone, you know, the typos, so, or it happens and all those sorts, you want to make sure that you come up for everything and anything that a customer might search you should have come up.
TODD (37:13):
Yeah. I think the Spanish keywords are important. I’m glad you brought that up because yeah. A lot of people, you know, in the us speak Spanish as their primary language, and they’re just going to amazon.com and typing that in right in there. So that, that can make a big difference for some products, for sure. And you don’t necessarily want to put that in the front end, but in the search terms, that would make really good sense. Very good.
TODD (37:43):
So Let’s see. So we’ve pretty much covered everything for a listing. Is there anything else that you guys help clients with that you’ve seen make a big difference?
MAC (37:54):
Yeah, I mean so basically once the listing is completed, it looks nice. Everything’s ready to go. It’s for example, it’s like you build a store once the store is completely built, ready customers, then you start with the marketing, which is like advertising. And mainly what we do is that it’s called giveaways. I mean, similar to like Amazon, I used to have their own giveaway thing and stuff basically help the listing to get to like to the first page quicker than it usually takes. So it’s not like giveaways or something like a blackout. It’s more like a, it’s basically it’s product listing awareness, basically getting people to know that this is a new listing. It’s like a, you open a new shop in your neighborhood. You want to start promoting, like, do some giveaways, do some sales to get people aware of it, of your store. So, same thing was with the listing. You have to make people aware that your listing is here and people are looking for it. And you have to show for Amazon that, you know, people are looking for and people are buying it. So that’s how they bring it.
TODD (38:54):
Yeah. When you’re doing giveaways, are you like running ads on Facebook for a giveaway or just utilizing your current email list? Or
MAC (39:04):
We have a group of people from all over the us and they’re interested in basically buying products and basically it’s to tell the customer, sometimes it’s also helpful to tell the seller, like, what’s wrong with the product? How can I, how can I improve it? So the perhaps also it’s also valuable, but some of the, and so the group is basically from all over the us. And we usually have
TODD (39:30):
You know,
MAC (39:30):
Sales are spread out over like a week or two weeks there just to give it a big boost, a big blast and, and bring it up and then you can start getting organic sales and, move on from there
TODD (39:42):
Okay. All right. Very good. Now, What are your thoughts on like the vine program where you’re giving away product through Amazon, in exchange for reviews and as well as the early reviewer program, do you guys use those at all? So, I mean,
MAC (40:03):
Part of the giveaway, it’s also the reviews, which is, I mean, the same people are buying it and they can, they call it, they can, they also have the option to leave reviews, but in most cases we try not to post the reviews because we try not to go against Amazon standards, but some sellers, you know they don’t mind taking the risk and it’s up to them. If they want to do it, then they can do it. But its not something we do,
TODD (40:29):
Okay.
MAC (40:30):
It’s very important because otherwise you can wait for weeks or years until you got maybe 20 interviews, you know? So this is like a quick way to get interviews quickly.
TODD (40:39):
Yeah. And I think it’s kind of funny that, that Amazon cracked down on people giving product away for reviews and then started their own program.
MAC (40:50):
Exactly what I wanted to point out. So first day scream, Hey, you, you manipulating speaker views and here you offer the same program, the same exact thing. I mean, hypocrite,
TODD (41:03):
It’s interesting, the early reviewer program, which is basically helps you get your first five reviews, at least to that, they’re just like sending that request out to people who naturally bought the product. But the vine program is like no different than what everybody used to do, where they’d be like here, take my product for free. Just give me a review. It’s kind of funny a little bit disappointing, but to be expected, you know, Amazon wants to control it right now, it’s free, but of course, they’re going to start charging for it at some point, and then they’ll make money off of it. A buying program. Anyways, the earlier reviewer, I think, is 60 bucks to do that.
TODD (41:47):
It’s interesting. I use their early reviewer program. Usually if I’m selling a product that is selling decently, but doesn’t have those five reviews yet. I’ll take advantage of that. Just try to get some more reviews, the vine program I’m trying now for the first time with a new bundle that I launched. So we’ll see how that goes so far. I think I’ve got like four reviews on it and one of them is not good. One was kinda in the middle and the other ones were five stars. So we’ll see how it plays out.
MAC (42:23):
That’s also the problem with, with vine interview is that you can’t really control you, you don’t really know what you’re going to get. You might get five one star you know, if the product is really bad. So it’s like a, yeah, it’s a gamble. Yeah.
TODD (42:36):
One of them was like, really? So he did it through the vine program. He got the product free. The review was that the bundle costs too much. That’s why he gave me two stars. There’s nothing, I was really? you got it fro free man. Come on. Okay. I guess at least he’s being honest that he thinks the price was too high. Yeah, it’s kinda interesting, but all right. So I think that’s been really helpful for people. Not only if they want to build up their own listings, but also in the beginning where we talked about, you know, your kind of journey and people can kind of see that journey in themselves, people want to use your guys’ services. What’s the best way for them to get ahold of you.
MAC (43:23):
So, first of all, it’s our website, which is www.bestseller listers.com.
TODD (43:30):
yup. I’ll throw the link in the description.
MAC (43:33):
And then I have WhatsApp. So obviously we have the email, which is obvious, but then we have a WhatsApp stands out is because people like the convenience of the end, when it was on their phone and it was using WhatsApp. So they like the convenience of having a company that just voice though, and send pictures and messages back and forth. So that’s what we also do. We have like a dedicated WhatsApp for business and we communicated with clients over there. You know, we send out the we also understand that. So I usually send out like the latest news updates, tips and tricks about Amazon. So sellers can stay up to date with the latest Trends and news about Amazon.
TODD (44:12):
Okay, perfect. How do they get on your email list? So it’s not an email. This is the WhatsApp email also you will add the email address, which is I send out every week, like a weekly newsletter and also about a, like a recap of all the news and stuff. And you will add the email adress in the description. And then we
MAC (44:32):
In the WhatsApp, the number is (845) 288-1740. I guess you can also add the link. WhatsApp links you can go directl. Yeah. So basically you have to subscribe, save the content in your context and you start seeing the status so you can contact us anytime with any questions.
TODD (44:50):
Okay, cool. Yeah. I’m just looking at your guys’ website over here. It looks like if they go to best seller lister.com scroll to the bottom , you have your WhatsApp down there as well. So that’s pretty cool. You’re actually sending like tips through the WhatsApp channel then. Yeah. So whatsapp that has the optional status, basically. It’s like Instagram stories whatsapp has status. So basically can go on there and just stay up to date. So, so I have many sellers that they, they just basically go onto the whatsapp and if they want to know anything, anything that happens with Amazon, any new ones, any news, and any of those today published, I usually find that I publish it there so people can stay up to date.
TODD (45:37):
Nice. That’s awesome. That’s the first time I’ve heard of someone doing that. So that’s, that’s pretty cool. A little marketing tab. Very nice. All right. Well, Matt, I appreciate you coming on the show, I think we’ve got a lot of really good information. I appreciate it, man.
MAC (45:54):
It was a lot of fun and I hope your audience will enjoy it. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
TODD (45:59):
Absolutely. You have a great one too.
Announcer (46:04):
This has been another episode of the entrepreneur adventure podcast. Thanks for listening fellow entrepreneur and always remember success is yours. If you take it.
